Wireless charging of mobile devices such as smartphones and wearable devices is becoming increasingly prevalent, being driven by standards groups such as QI (http://www.qiwireless.com) and Rezence (http://www.rezence.com), and device manufacturers including the technology in new devices.
Current wireless-charging techniques require the device being charged to be placed within proximity of a wireless-charging device, commonly referred to as a charging mat. For practical reasons, wireless-charging devices are frequently placed on horizontal surfaces such as tables or other furniture. Also known are wireless-charging devices which are integrated into furniture, e.g., a tabletop. For example, restaurants and coffee joints have started offering wireless charging to their patrons with desks or tables having integrated wireless-charging devices.
As horizontal surfaces are often used for a wide variety of tasks, there is a risk for a mobile device which is placed on a wireless-charging device to be inadvertently displaced, e.g., accidently knocked off the table, with the risk of device damage. Therefore, a convenient placement of a wireless-charging device may be on a less used surface, in particular a vertical surface such as a wall, or a vertical surface of a piece of furniture. However, placing a mobile device for wireless charging on a vertical surface has the disadvantage that a specific apparatus, such as a bracket, is needed to hold the device in place. The use of such an additional apparatus to hold the device to the vertical surface to some extent negates the attraction of using wireless charging techniques, as the user still needs to manually secure the mobile device in place.
Also known are magnetic holders for mobile phones, in particular for use in cars. Such holders are provided with permanent magnets and are often shipped with a magnetic patch which can be attached to the rear face of a mobile phone. In order to remove the mobile phone, it is manually pulled from the holder. Since a considerable force needs to be applied to pull the mobile phone from the magnetic holder, there is a risk of damaging the mobile phone. In particular, this is the case for thin devices such as modern smartphones.